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Summary: Ruby, You're Like A Dream
Review: Ray Charles sang a song, "Ruby, you're like a dream." That'd be a good song selection for the movie soundtrack. "Ruby in the Smoke" reads quickly. It takes a number of twists and turns. Sally Lockheart is a great role model because she is an independent young woman in an era when women were still expected to be homemakers, economically dependent on men. Not only is the protagonist a woman, but the main villain is also. Mrs. Holland is a spiteful woman with no positive quality; so we love to hate her. She is the perfect foil for Ms. Sally. I found the idea that opium could somehow help one recall deep memories from childhood to be somewhat suspect; it's almost as if Pullman makes a case for therapeutic usage of addictive drugs. I also didn't find much use for the superstition that some evil curse could be connected with a gem stone and therefore found the ending event frustratingly wasteful. The supporting characters are strongly written, the photographer, the actress, the thugs, the twins, Trembler, and Jimmy. The action and pacing are good, making one wonder what could happen next. On the whole, this was a brief but enjoyable reading experience!
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Summary: That Bridge...
Review: This was the first book of Philip Pullman's that I read and I was hooked after. This is great and it's almost as if you are seeing what Sally is. Lovely book, it's wonderful. It's just the beginning of what is to come that makes it so interesting...
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Summary: Amazing
Review: I can't remember if I already wrote a review for this book, but I love it and the authur and all of his books. If you haven't read this book you have to ASAP!!!
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Summary: megs reviw
Review: i read this book and like most of the reviws it was stunning it wasnt as gripping as His dark matierials series was but it was great cunning and daring i recomend it to anyone
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Summary: For adults Dark Materials is better, but not bad.
Review: This is very light reading for an adult. However good sort of mystery/action book for early teens or younger if mature readers. Its sort of a cross between Nancy Drew and Hardy boys with an English Public School boys perspective. Although some murder and scary stuff for kids a very quick read for serious readers. I much prefer his Dark Materials books, of course since they are more adult and the characters are more developed. But a good read for Pullman fans.
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Summary: Born Under An Unlucky Star
Review: Sally Lockhart, sixteen years old and suddenly an orphan, lives in Victorian London in 1872. Her father, Matthew Lockhart, owned half-interest in a shipping business, Lockhart and Selby, Shipping Agents. After arriving at the business, she seeks out Mr. Selby, her late father's partner, but is instead directed to see Mr. Higgs, the company secretary. While speaking with Mr. Higgs, Sally mentions a man named Marchbanks and the Seven Blessings. Overcome with fear, Mr. Higgs has a heart attack and dies. Sally got both names from a mysterious note that arrived at the house where she is staying with her aunt, a terrible woman who is interested in Sally only for the money she gets paid to put her up. The arrival of the note and the accompanying mystery drastically alters Sally's life even more than her father's death aboard a sinking ship in the South China Sea. She goes on the run for her life, chased by enemies that she never knew existed, and has to find allies who will help her seek out the truth of what is going on in the city's dark and fearful criminal underground. To survive and claim her own life back, Sally has to figure out the puzzle of her father's death, but by doing that she will come face-to-face with the most evil man she has ever met.Philip Pullman is an award-winning writer. Besides the Sally Lockhart Trilogy, consisting of THE RUBY IN THE SMOKE, THE SHADOW IN THE NORTH, and THE TIGER IN THE WELL, he's also written the HIS DARK MATERIALS Trilogy: THE GOLDEN COMPASS, THE SUBTLE KNIFE, and THE AMBER SPYGLASS. THE TIN PRINCESS, a historical stand-alone novel, includes characters from the Sally Lockhart Trilogy. The novel is a good suspense and mystery read, and features a plucky heroine that readers will agonize over and root for. Sally Lockhart may start out her adventure in over her head, but she quickly regroups and rises to meet the challenge. The friends that she meets and recruits to help her unravel the dangerous mystery are all original and unique, as are the villains that she is up against. Victorian England comes across as a character itself, and the setting is sharply realized in the descriptions included in the narrative as well as the speech patterns of the characters. The novel is like a Charles Dickens tale, but told succinctly and concisely in today's language. The shifting from points of view, from the heroine to the evil villainess and her henchmen (something usually not done in YA books) also makes the story move along at a rapid pace. Anyone wanting a good thriller with a deep and well-researched history of Victorian England, complete with information about the opium trade conducted in China, will enjoy THE RUBY IN THE SMOKE. Sally Lockhart is a genuine tough-minded heroine who has an interesting history designed to make her a great character, and certainly interesting enough to carry through two more books in the series. Fans of Pullman's fantasy novels will want to take a look at this book because, even though the story may not be set in a fantasy world, Victorian England seems very much like another world filled with mystery, mayhem, and nefarious evil-doers.
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Summary: Best Book Ever
Review: I have had to buy at least two copies of this book because I wear them out with all my reading. By now, I have about memorized it. I am determined that they should make it into a movie, and that I should be 16-year-old Sally Lockhart. Luckily, I still have some time to wait because I'm only 13 now. In the whole series, she grows as a person and is very believable- not one of those super-heroes who does anything and everything perfectly. You can relate to her easily and she is a great role model. The story moves along and you can never put it down.
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Summary: The most mysterious book I ever read
Review: I have never read a book like this before. This is the most mysterious book I have never seen. Phillip Pullman wrote a fabulous book called gRuby in the smokeh. Although I would like to say this story is not good for children because it is a bit complicated and a few people die.
Sally Lockheart is a sixteen years old girl who has just lost her father. It is said that her father died by ship sunk in general, but she does not know for sure, because one day she gets a note which tells her there is mystery of her fatherfs death. She starts to find out it and the meaning of Seven Blessings which was written on a note. While she was in a process of searching the meaning of Seven Blessings, many people died. As she is trying to find out, more and more mysteries appear.
This story is located in England in 1872. I was not born yet so I do not know the history at this age. The opium appeared on the market and there are few character who are slave of it.@@Though everyone knows it is not good for our health, it is quite an important thing the key to find out the mystery in this story.
I recommend this book very much. I can say that you would not be able to stop reading, because I could not stop reading especially when I reached the climax of the novel. There is a big surprise about Sallyfs father and her relationship. Although I was mixed up which character is which, once you get it, it does not matter at all. As I said first, too many people die in this story. This is the only part I do not like.
I really would like to tell you about the story and ending, but I would rather not to say any more. You should find out how this ends and what the surprise is. This is the first book of Sallyfs story. I am going to read next one soon.
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Summary: A Nail-Chewer!!!
Review: I've read this book at least 5 times, it's wonderful and full of suspence. The Sally Lockhart series are one of the best that i've ever read, Philip Pullman wrote them beautifully, in a style that reminds one slightly of Dickens, just a touch more modern. From the first page to the last one (that leaves you craving for the next in the series), the pace never lessens, but does not, I am thankfull to say, overdo it. Set in the 17 century London, we are introduced to a set of vividly described characters, that one quickly starts to love! The beautiful Sally who's "had a throgh grounding in military tactics, can run a business, ride like a Cossack and shoot straight with a pistol" but hasn't aclue of what a lady needs to know, is left to fend for herself when her father, who raised her alone, is drowned under suspicios circumstances in the South China Sea. Thogh she doesn't know it, she is already in terrible danger, and with her investigations she only brings herself deeper in to the heart of an unbelievable plot, closely entwined with her own past, opium smuggling, and a ruby. She wouldn't of lasted long without the help of her friends...
A great book!
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Summary: One of my favorites as a teenager.
Review: I love the Sally Lockhart trilogy. The stories read just like a "penny dreadful," only the writing is much more skillful. There is no end to the mystery, fun, and adventure in this too-short series of superbly-plotted books. I took issue with two major decisions the author made (in books two and three), but I won't discuss them here because that would ruin the books for anyone who hadn't read them. Let me just say (and this won't give anything away) that one had to do with a fire, and the other had to do with a replacement that just wasn't good enough. Book one was the best of the three, and the reason why I went on to read other series by Mr. Pullman. There was an incredible coincidence you had to swallow that I would have spit out with any other book. But the author has so much fun with it, and it's so appropriate for a book that honors that old-fashioned melodramatic genre of dime novels, that it feels like it belongs. In fact, everything feels like it belongs in this book, so finely-woven together is its setting, characters, and plot. Bravo to Mr. Pullman for his major success with this work!
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